Saturday, October 29, 2016

The official
opening of St Joseph’s Hall at St Mary’s Chapel, recently marked another
milestone in the growth of the chapel.

The hall
which is linked to the Chapel was officiated by Vice Provincial of OMPH Church
Rev Fr Eugene Fernandez CssR after the 10am Sunday mass on October 9th
2016.

Rev Fr Eugene Fernandez officiated at the opening of St Josephs hall.

St Mary's Chapel with St Joseph's Hall on the left. At the hilllock behind is

...the Grotto at St Mary's

In his
homily Fr Eugene said that the opening of St Joseph’s Hall was a testimony of
the faith of the catholic community at Tg Rambutan.

“St Joseph’s Hall is a reflection of a community that is walking with Jesus and
a show of their strong faith throughout the years” said Fr Eugene.

Clockwise. The chapel built by three local youth in 1979 and subsequently enlarged during the time of Fr David Anthony.

..after which activities such as mass, baptism's and wedding was held there.

Indeed the
Catholic community at the 8th milestone, Kg Tersusun, Ulu Kinta has
grown from a community of five families in the 60’s it now boasts of having over
100 families, a chapel and hall and a grotto atop the adjoining hill.

A slide
presentation of the history about the community stated that during the 60’s and 70’s the
community was served by the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, 16 Km away.

The community
initially held their Mass at the nearby Methodist School. It was not until 1979
that three local youth from within the community built the chapel at the
present location.

The
community subsequently enlarged the chapel during the period with Fr David
Anthony after which various activities such as mass, feast day, baptism and
weddings was held.

The chapel then was built on government land. In 1987 their
application for the land was approved.

The chapel received approval for the land in 1987 and the current St Mary's Chapel was blessed in 1992

The Catholic community at St Mary's. From 5 initially to well over 100 families now.

It was not
until 1992, with a grant of RM70,000 from the Penang Diocesan Fund and together
with donations from the parishioners, the present chapel was built and officially
blessed and opened by Bishop Antony Selvanayagam.

According to
Peter James, Chairman of St Mary’s Project and Upgrading Committee, the project
to build a hall was mooted since 2007.

“The initial
plan was to have an open hall which was completed in 2010.

“However as
there was bouts of theft and vandalism by monkeys from the adjoining hill
despite having iron grilles the committee decided to build a closed hall”

A
fundraising was started in 2013 and resulted with the opening of St Josephs
Hall.

The mass and
opening ceremony saw an attendance of over 350 who also attended the lunch. While
St Joseph’s hall accommodated over 200 diners the rest spilled over to the
tents outside.

St Mary's Chapel 2016 a far cry from 1979, thirty seven years ago.

The Offertory on October 9, building materials, sweets and a souvenir.

The morning mass was held smoothly amidst a melodic choir and a
responsive congregation.

A view of St Mary's from the top of the Grotto.

A full house luncheon at St Joseph's Hall paying attention and ....

...listening to Rev Fr Eugene Fernandez, Project Chairperson Peter James and viewing the slide presentation of St Mary's brief history.

In contrast
to the images of a young and growing chapel some thirty years ago the progress that
St Mary’s Chapel displays now is a clear testimony of the faith of a community
that has helped it grow and progress.

The multiple members from the Redemptorist Congregation who have worked with the residents to grow the community over the last 40 years.

Thursday, September 15, 2016

The Mid-Autumn Festival has been celebrated all throughout
Ipoh town recently and OMPH Church not wanting to be left out held their own festival
celebration at Parish level.

The event was organised by the Chinese Apostolate group. (above pix) Richard Choo from the Chinese group addressing the guests. (below) The MC's addressing the guest in English,Chinese and Bahasa Malaysia

The Parish event was organized by the Chinese Apostolate
group and held at the Church premises last Sunday evening September 11.

Rev Fr Joseph Stephen welcoming the parishioners.

It was an elaborate affair with Parish Priest Rev Fr Joseph
Stephens officiating at the event.

The evening started with dinner being served before the
commencing of the activities.

A slide presentation explaining the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival during dinner.

While the parishioners dined a video explained how the
Mid-Autumn celebration came about.

Dance presentation by the Chinese Apostolate group.

The activities after dinner included dances by the Chinese
section and games where both young and senior could participate in.

Games. Passing the hula hoop without breaking the human chain

The winners of the Treasure Hunt (above) and the participants(below)

A section of the parishioners viewing the activities

The final event of the night was the lantern walk held at the parking lot within the church.

The final event, the Lantern walk was what all the children were waiting for.

Some of the families that participated in the walk.

It was an evening of fun for the families in the Parish that
concluded by 10pm.

Photographs those days were printed and recently when he had
returned to Ipoh passed me a stack of photographs with captions of what was the
occasion and where it took place.

Bronson’s prints’ was still in good condition and I had
selected this report of his hike with the Hash House Harriers from Gopeng to
Cameron Highlands. The year was 1970.

As Branson could not recall all the names of the Harriers on
the hike he referred me to fellow runner Foo Wan Shoon who in turn referred me
again to his brother Foo Wan Thot and fellow runner Liew Chee Tuck.

I recently met the trio at dinner after their Friday run at
Falim but was asked to meet again the next day. The trio were in their 60’s and
70’s now but with the aid of the photographs still remembered the hike fondly.

According to Liew the hike took place in 1970, a year after the
1969 May 13 riots. It was organized by then Osborne and Chapel Gopeng Manager
the late Jackett Simpson.

“Simpson worked in Gopeng and he made arrangements for the
transport and orang asli guides.

“At the time before we went into the jungle we had to
register ourselves at the Gopeng Police station.

“All the hikers met at 6am at the Station before boarding a lorry
that took us along the Gopeng pipeline
until the point of entry at Sg Itek. From there we began our track up to
Cameron Highlands.

“We had orang asli’s to guide us uphill. Our journey was a
mix of jungle tracks and streams and despite the hike being grueling all of the
way we managed to exit at the Bharat Tea Estate before Tanah Rata at around
4.30 pm.

According to Liew the group stayed the night at the Foo Yat
Kai villa located at Tanah Rata and returned home the next day.

He added that during that period in the 60’s the HHH was the
only group that did the climb from Gopeng to Cameron Highland and the 1970 hike
was the groups 3rd since 1966.

Liew recalled that the HHH Perak Chapter started in 1966
stating that some of the early pioneer members besides himself was Foo Wan
Thot, one time a Grandmaster, his brother Foo Wan Shoon, Phillip Leong who for
a time the secretary who wrote the raunchy newsletters and then there was
Bronson.

Liew was introduced to the club in 1968 by fellow runner
Phillip Leong.

“At the time HHH was mainly a club made up of of 90% expatriates.
However when we joined it was for the exercise and it was fun as at the end of the
run there was a beer wagon waiting”.

Liew described Wan Shoon and Bronson as the young members of
the group that was always ahead of the rest,

(l-r) Bronson and Wan Shoon, the 'young' runners that was always ahead of the group.

“Especially for Bronson. He would wear jungle boots and run
ahead of the rest which was possibly the reason he could capture all the
photographs”.

A visit to former secretary Phillip Leong brought back
memories describing those days as so much fun and camaraderie.

(l-r) Bronson, King Lee, Charlie Loh and Phillip Leong (5th from left and inset)

As he looked at his old photograph the his main mention was that
he was so slim and had more hair then.

Apparently the photographs of Bronson rekindled a spark in
the lives of these former young men all of whom recalled their adventurous
times four decades ago.